Game devlogs. Keep every voice clear.

Give the recorded update its own subtitle track

A game devlog can move from a developer explaining an experiment to a character speaking over gameplay, then back to a feature that is still being built. Polyglot creates a timed subtitle draft from your recorded update on an Apple Silicon Mac. Review the source, optionally translate it and export a separate SRT or WebVTT file for a compatible player.

This workflow serves the finished video. It does not localize game-engine strings, implement runtime captions or make the playable game accessible. A translated devlog is not evidence that the game supports that language. Keep those deliverables and claims separate when you publish.

Use a recording you own or are authorized to process and distribute. Confirm the intended use of game assets, music, voice performances, collaborator recordings and player chat, including translated publication. Remove private messages and uncleared material in the video editor. Check publisher approval and any embargo before uploading footage of an unreleased build.

Tie the film to the build it actually shows

Finish cuts, voiceover, speed changes and the audio mix before creating subtitles. Keep a short note with the video revision, captured build, footage date and the status of each demonstrated feature. A prototype mechanic, a planned addition and a feature in the public build should stay distinguishable in the spoken explanation and every translation.

Import the final recording into Polyglot, or start from a reviewed SRT or WebVTT that already matches that edit. Listen to the source wording alongside playback before translating. If the developer misspoke about availability, correct the recording or add a clearly identified editorial correction to the film; do not silently rewrite the subtitle as if different words were spoken.

A later build does not automatically invalidate an older progress film. Label its context accurately. If you replace gameplay shots or shorten the narration, treat the result as a new video revision and review its timing again. A filename alone cannot establish that the track matches.

Review each layer of the final audio mix

Make a pass for developer narration, a pass for audible character dialogue and a pass for sounds that explain what happened. Polyglot does not automatically separate these speakers or produce a complete sound-effects track. When narration overlaps game speech, listen carefully and keep uncertainty visible in a review note instead of guessing a clean sentence.

W3C’s prerecorded-caption guidance includes speaker context and meaningful non-speech audio. In a devlog, a gate unlocking may explain a demonstrated mechanic; continuous background ambience may not need repeated labels. Make those decisions from the actual recording. Add missing cues or resolve overlapping speech in a suitable caption editor where necessary.

This fictional handoff note shows the distinction. It is a reviewer’s document, not an app-generated report or a real game example. The subtitle must preserve the developer’s qualification; the game line needs speaker context; the effect needs a caption only if it carries meaning.

Fictional review note
Video: devlog-07-v03.mp4
Build: prototype 0.8
00:12 Developer narration
  “We are testing co-op.”
  Preserve “testing”.
00:27 Character: “Stay here.”
  Check speaker context.
00:31 Gate unlocks audibly
  Review [gate unlocks].
Output: devlog07-v03.en.srt

Preserve game terms and tentative claims

Ask the developer for a small reference sheet: character names, item names, button labels, mechanic terms and approved wording for work in progress. Decide which proper names stay unchanged and which use an established localized name. The sheet supports a human reviewer; it is not a custom-glossary import or automatic terminology feature.

Compare each translation with the reviewed source and footage. “We are testing co-op” must not become “Co-op is available.” Preserve negations, conditions and limits such as “in this prototype.” Do not borrow a polished description from the store page if the recording says something narrower.

Debug overlays, menus and quest text are visual content, not necessarily spoken dialogue. Polyglot’s audio transcription does not read that screen text. If a visible label is essential to understanding the explanation, plan an appropriate visual translation or description separately. Avoid inserting it into a speech cue as though the developer said it.

Translation preserves the source cue timing, but a longer sentence can compete with a fast gameplay moment. Review reading time and use faithful shorter wording where possible. If individual cues need splitting or retiming, finish that work in a suitable editor and validate the exported file again.

Prepare the delivery for the actual destination

For a compatible video host, export the reviewed language track and upload it to the matching video. YouTube documents a timed-file upload flow with a language selection. Check the current accepted format and review the uploaded track. Polyglot does not upload it for you.

A Steam store video is a separate delivery decision. Steamworks distinguishes an Interview / Dev Diary category and documents language-specific trailer settings and sound-off viewing. That guidance does not establish an SRT upload workflow. Confirm your destination’s current controls before choosing a deliverable; do not assume that every player accepts a sidecar subtitle file.

If the destination needs captions permanently visible in the picture, use a separate video editor or encoder to burn in the approved track. Polyglot exports SRT and WebVTT as separate text files. Keep a clean video master and verify each rendered language version after encoding.

Accept the subtitles beside the gameplay

Check the opening narration, a distinctive middle exchange and the closing line, then watch the entire update in its destination player. Verify names, accents, speaker changes, language labels and blank gaps. After external finishing, check cue count and order against the intended changes; an unexplained missing cue is a hold.

Inspect a small player with sound off. Can viewers read the captions without losing a health bar, interaction prompt or important action? If the captured game already displays subtitles, check whether the added video track creates duplicate or conflicting text. Do not omit audible dialogue simply to hide a collision. Adjust the presentation or source edit, and recheck the result. Plain SRT or WebVTT output cannot guarantee placement in every player.

A short promotional cut needs a track matched to that cut. Do not attach the full devlog’s timings unchanged. Keep the final video, approved subtitle languages, build-context note and any remaining review holds together for the uploader.

Polyglot processes media and subtitle text locally. Requested downloads, user-controlled updates, default-on content-free analytics with an opt-out and Pro licensing have separate network boundaries. New AI subtitle jobs use the seven-day trial and require Pro afterward; editing and exports remain free. Local processing does not replace your team’s permission and release review.

Keep exploring.